Canal Lining Program

Canals
can lose 30 to 50 percent of their irrigation water through seepage.
Canal-lining technologies can minimize seepage losses at reasonable
costs. The Canal Lining Program is a specialized demonstration
program designed to investigate alternative canal-lining materials.
Traditional canal-lining materials typically include compacted
earth, reinforced or unreinforced conerete, and (more recently)
buried geomembranes. However, for some jobs, these materials are
not always viable because they:

This study looks at alternative canal-lining materials that
are less expensive, easier to construct with limited access,
and compatible with severe rocky subgrades such as the fractured
volcanic basalt common in the Pacific Northwest.

To
date, over 30 test sections have been constructed in several
irrigation districts throughout the Pacific Northwest. The lining
materials include combinations of geosynthetics, shotcrete, grout-filled
mattrasses, soil, elastomeric coatings, and sprayed-in-place
foam. Some test sections are almost ten years old.

The Canal Lining Program publishes several reports and updates
on the implementation of various canal-lining materials: